Effective Writing for Papers, Theses and Dissertations

09.30-10.00

Introductions and objectives

Defining personal aims and objectives for the course Icebreaker – group discussion on what makes good scientific writing

10.00-11.00

Effective writing style          

Principles of scientific and academic discourse. The writing process, What your dissertation, transfer report or thesis must show. The writing process - planning, writing and revision. Style can be thought of simply as reader‑friendly writing. We are writing to be understood, and clear thinking is the key to clear writing. Six rules for clear and lively writing. Avoiding wordiness and pomposity, worn out words, active versus passive. Some thoughts on sentences and paragraphs. Avoiding monotony by changing sentence length and structure, using headings etc. Common mistakes and how to avoid them. Style points illustrated by mini-exercises.

11.00-11.15

Break

11.15-12.30

Standard scientific structures

Group work - The IMRAD structure. Signalling the organization visually and verbally. Tense and point of view. Methods - a 'recipe' for the study. Preferred sequences for different kinds of research. Results - The core of the thesis or paper. Organisation. Relating results to methods. Selecting results. Common errors when writing Results. Selection and preparation of graphs, tables and illustrations. Introductions and discussions. How to read a paper. Reviewing and synthesizing the work of others. Presentation of the problem, definition of the ‘question’. Establishing general principles and relationships with reference to the literature. Dealing with inconsistencies and surprising findings. Applications, implications, and speculations. Useful software

12.30-13.30

Lunch

13.30-14.30

How to write a good paper or conference abstract

Guidelines on writing abstracts that are concise, meaningful, and stand alone as a representative of the study. Structured abstracts. Differences between paper abstracts, conference abstracts, abstracts for other purposes. Giving your paper a good title

Principles of choosing titles to meet journal requirements and attract the right readers.

14.30-15.00

Publish or perish

What can be published, and where? How scientific journals work. Role of Editor and referees. Choosing the right journal. Impact and immediacy factors. Circulation and readership. Frequency, time taken from submission to publication. Special considerations with review papers. Current views on duplicate and prior publication, ‘salami’ publication. Possible formats within journals - not everything has to be a full-length research paper. Differences between theses and papers. Discussion – who qualifies as an author?

15.00-15.15

Break

15.45-16.30

Perfecting your paper or thesis

Managing your time for writing and revising. Getting feedback on content and presentation. The need for several passes. Checking structure, headings, text, contents, figures and tables, references etc. Consistency, style guides. Putting together your own personal checklist. Mini-exercises to illustrate key points.

16.30-16.45

Final steps – and coping with peer review

Authors, acknowledgements, etc. The submission package. Dealing with referee's comments. How not to respond. Tactful ways to deflect criticism. Strategies for resubmission. Summing up - How to increase your publications list.